Page 5 of Brimstone

Carrion was on his feet. Simon, his god sword, was in his hand. Onyx had bolted from his arms and was hiding between Bill’s legs now, which wasn’t doing much to help calm the horse. Bill stayed close, though, stamping his hooves and blowing, eyes rolling—afraid but wanting to obey. The tide of feeders would be on us any second. “Take their heads,” I shouted. “Don’t fuck this up, Carrion!”

“I won’t!” He took up position next to me, adopting a readying stance, and I was struck with a flicker of surprise. The footwork was there. Almost. And when the ravening feeders fell upon us, he didn’t immediately die.Shocking.

Silver and Fae steel swept through the air, cutting the bastards down. I caught most of them. The few that avoided me and targeted Carrion dropped to the ground, too. Most of them still had their heads and were still trying to kill the smuggler, but at least he put them down. Behind us, Onyx let out a terrified squeal . . .

Seven feeders.

Eight . . .

The three Carrion had downed were joined by a fourth.

Forty feet stood between us and the next wave of feeders. I grabbed Carrion by the scruff of his neck and shoved him back toward Bill. We’d been lucky so far, but we wouldn’t stay lucky forever. I scooped up Onyx and vaulted onto Bill’s back, pulling Swift up behind me.

Ammontraíeth loomed ahead—a clenched fist with knuckles for spires, punching skyward out of the mist. Not a palace, but afortress.

I gripped Bill’s mane, sending one last prayer to the gods, and we rode like the wind.

Hell was awake and grinding its teeth by the time we reached the Cogs. High and low bloods alike peered over the obsidian walls that guarded the small city at the foot of Ammontraíeth, their monstrous eyes full of judgment and hunger as Bill trudged reluctantly back toward the outbuilding. Lorreth was there waiting for us, arms crossed over his chest, a scowl etched deep into his face. “I swear to all the gods. You leave a room and say you’ll be right back. Next thing I know, I see you galloping across the dead fields, charging headlong at the undead!”

Carrion groaned as he slid down from Bill.

“Andyou? Are you out of your godscursed mind?” Lorreth hissed. He squinted at the smuggler as if he could actuallyseethe stupid on him.

“Don’t mind me. I only killed four feeders and saved Fisher’s life.” He affected his usual devil-may-care tone, but there was a note of true fear beneath it now. Our near brush with death had had the appropriate effect on him, it seemed.

I was going to kill him. “You maimed them at best,” I snapped. “And the day you savemeon a battlefield, I’ll put on a dress and dance a fucking jig.” He could have gotten usbothkilled by following me down here. He’d fucking fallen. If anything had happened to him, then what? Saeris would have beenpissedat me.

But . . .

Onyx whimpered.

He shivered against my chest, tucked into a ball, his glassy black eyes still full of fear. His coat was filthy. Blood matted his fur on his back right leg. He yelped when I ran my hands over the injury, clearly in pain.

There would be time to yell at Carrion Swift later.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s just get inside before these fuckers decide to take a bite out of one of us.” I looked to my friend. “Any luck finding him?” I asked softly.

Lorreth’s nostrils flared, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “No. I’ve searched high and low. If Foley’s here, then I couldn’t tell you where.”

Unfortunate. We needed Foley. I sighed, shoving down my disappointment. “All right. Well, keep looking. I have a feeling we shouldn’t give up just yet.”

“Who’s Foley?” Carrion asked.

Lorreth opened his mouth, halfway to answering, but then he hesitated, looking to me.

The universe could end and Carrion Swift wouldn’t have run out of questions. But in his position, I probably would have felt the same way. I inclined my head, glancing away while Lorreth explained.

“A friend once. Still a friend. One ofus.We lost him at Ajun.”

Saeris said that Lorreth sang a ballad about the Ajun Gate, about the battle that had taken place there, but that the quicksilver had claimed the song in return for allowing Avisiéth, Lorreth’s sword, to be forged anew. Carrion had asked about the Ajun Gate since then. While we’d all waited for Saeris to wake after the Midnight Kiss, Lorreth had recounted plenty of our exploits to the smuggler. He’d talked of the friend we’d lost to the dragon. He just hadn’t told him the whole story.

“If you lost him in Ajun, then how . . .” Carrion’s brow furrowed, realization dawning on him. “Oh. Youlosthim. But hestill lives. Here?” he said, looking up at the razor-sharp walls of the Black Palace that towered above us.

“Yes,” Lorreth said. It was remarkable how one word could hold so much tension. The warrior cleared his throat. “I’ll tear the place apart if I have to, Fisher. Don’t worry. I’ll get it done. Go. Get inside. Saeris was putting on a brave face when I left her, but she was panicking. I’ll rub Bill down and get him cooled off.” Even as he said it, he scrubbed a hand up and down Bill’s sweat-slicked neck, clapping him on his shoulder. I got down, careful not to jar Onyx too badly as my boots hit the ground.

I landed softly, but he still yelped. I could feel his bones through his fur. With a sinking heart, I saw that his paws were cracked and bleeding.

“You’ll have to hold him,” I told Carrion, as we headed back toward the Cogs.